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TORONTO - A team from Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough recently won the top prize at this year������Ƶapp National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Design Competition in Rochester, N.Y.

Beating out 10 other teams from New York State, the all-girls robotics team designed and built a robot which had to pick up as many white cans as possible from their field positions on an obstacle course and place them in the “finish box” within a three-minute period. “We were the only team competing from Canada,” said Mary Charles Hills, one of the team������Ƶapp teacher advisors.

������Ƶapp new vice-president and academic dean is lined up to take over July 1, but he isn’t really new to the Catholic liberal arts college at the University of Waterloo.

James S. Frank attended St. Jerome������Ƶapp High School as a teenager, was a member of the St. Jerome������Ƶapp University Catholic Community for 36 years, was married to his wife Jackie by one of his priest-professors while studying at St. Jerome������Ƶapp and helped initiate the children������Ƶapp Sunday school program when his own kids were attending church at the university in the 1980s.

MARKHAM, Ont. - Brother André High School in Markham has officially added “St.” to its name.

It������Ƶapp the first school in the archdiocese of Toronto to officially change its name by adding the “St.” designation since the Quebec-born saint������Ƶapp Oct. 17 canonization.

The school is working with the board to change its name on the school building as well as developing a new school logo, said interim principal Peter Bahen.

TORONTO - On the heels of a $2-million budget surplus, the should soon be out of supervision, provincially appointed supervisor Richard Alway announced at the board's inaugural meeting Dec. 8.

Alway said having a balanced budget is one of the steps that will kick-start the return of decision-making powers to the elected members of the board, which has been under provincial supervision since 2009. He added that he would soon be submitting a report to Ontario's education minister to recommend that local powers to be restored to the board. This could happen as early as January, he said.

TORONTO - A new teachers’ group for openly gay teachers has been created to provide a “safe environment” to discuss homophobia, said the group������Ƶapp founder.

kindergarten teacher Lauren Chapple started Proud Rainbow Voices last May. The 155-member group of openly gay teachers includes five Catholic school teachers, she said.

TORONTO - Ontario������Ƶapp Catholic schools won’t be forced to hire non-Catholic or gay teachers as part of the government������Ƶapp new equity strategy, said an education ministry spokesperson.

Next year is the final phase of government������Ƶapp equity strategy which asks boards to update or establish equitable hiring and promotion practices. Gary Wheeler told The Register that the government������Ƶapp strategy “is to be implemented within the context of denominational rights.”

TORONTO - Provincial supervision of the is likely to end in January, according to supervisor Richard Alway.

The board and its trustees are turning over a new leaf with a mix of incumbent and new trustees elected in this past October's election, said Alway. He said the new group is “very anxious to work together and build a positive relationship amongst themselves, between the board of trustees and staff leadership.”

TORONTO - Diane Vautour likes to bring history to life. And for doing so on a daily basis at Toronto������Ƶapp Loretto College High School, she was awarded a Governor General������Ƶapp Award for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History at a ceremony at Rideau Hall on Nov. 19.

“Teaching at an all-girls’ school, I want to emphasize women������Ƶapp history, from a women������Ƶapp point of view,” Vautour, 32, told The Register.

“It������Ƶapp not just an add-on or an extra page in a textbook.”

TORONTO - Ontario Catholic schools will not be required under the province������Ƶapp controversial equity and inclusive education strategy to maintain gay support clubs, according to a ministry spokesman.

Gary Wheeler said in an e-mail that the province������Ƶapp new equity policy, which has sparked concern from Ontario bishops and Catholic educators, has “flexibility” that will permit Catholic boards to operate “within the context of denominational rights of Roman Catholics.”

TORONTO - Promoting the option for the poor and working for justice go hand-in-hand with the Gospel values that students are learning at Catholic schools, says Jenny Cafiso, director of Canadian Jesuits International.

And the United Nations, a forum of diverse nations, beliefs and ideas, is precisely the place where Catholics should be making their voices heard on behalf of the marginalized, she said.